The overall meeting industry “went gangbusters into the recession where meetings were scaled back and cut down,” said Kate Vinyard, managing director of Face 2 Face Meetings & Events Worldwide. Now, companies understand and re-evaluate the value that meetings bring to the company and are trying to find creative ways to do it.

Even though the economy is coming back, Monica Compton, owner of Pinnacle Productions Inc., said she isn’t seeing budgets returning to where they were in, say, the 1980s.

“Back then, we had a budget and tracked costs, but if we needed to spend more, it was OK,” she said. “People have gotten more prudent across the board, and planners, as a whole, are going to continue to negotiate hard.”

Companies are looking at both traditional spaces, like hotels, as well as funky, cheaper meeting sites that enable them to incorporate a theme into their meetings, said Mike Michel, founder of InLine Meeting & Site Selection.

The majority of his clients are still looking to keep costs down, so they are trending toward hotels where everything is under one roof and companies can get the most bang for their buck.

“Costs go up with funky,” Michel said. “If everyone is flying into Atlanta, most want to keep everyone in the same place.”

Companies using a meeting space for training are tending to stick with the traditional hotel meeting space, Vinyard said.

“I have clients who stay with the hotel meeting site, but will do something unique for the evening events in order to get employees’ brains moving in a different direction,” she said. “I have another handful of clients looking for the unique venues where they can do things like team-building activities, though they don’t want to call them that.”

For those types of activities, Vinyard, who is also director of strategic eventsfor Georgia Meeting Professionals International, said companies seek more intimate settings.

When companies feel stuck in a rut on the traditional meeting space, Vinyard proposes sites with different environments that enable options for classroom or theater seating, but also for getting up and having engaging activities.

Compton, who is also vice president of strategic events for the Georgia MPI, said one of her clients, a financial services company, had always had its holiday party in the atrium of its office building, but due to management company changes, the company is having to look for a new space and is considering a more unique venue near the office that would give the party a different feel.

Big cities like Atlanta often have a category of unique venues put together by the city’s convention and visitors’ bureau, Compton said. In addition to seeing samples of the spaces online, she will take it a step further and contact the CVB to explain what the company is looking for.

“Companies like meeting spaces in sports venues, and museums are really cool spaces,” she said. “At a recent roundtable discussion, we were hearing about the College Football Hall of Fame and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and I asked if group meetings would be available there. If you are doing a government meeting or something with a lobbyist, then the civil rights museum might be your theme.”

In addition, having things to do outside of the meeting, like a tour of the museum, gets attendees excited and looking forward to something, Compton said.

Compton typically prefers boutique hotels for out-of-town meetings because if the group is the right size, it will take over a hotel, which puts all the hotel staff’s attention on the company’s group.

Hotel meetings are gradually doing better since the economic downturn, but hotels understand the blight of the corporate budget, and are working with companies to plan the best meeting.

Michel said if a hotel wants to win that meeting, they are willing to work with the planner.

They might throw in offerings like free Wi-Fi in the meeting space, more morning and afternoon breaks or upgrading food choices, such as adding a few hot items to the breakfast menu.

“A lot of hotels are trying to see what the new trends are and what companies are doing,” Vinyard said. “Our requests for proposal are more specific in the creative aspects, and companies are thinking outside the box of the traditional meeting by planning more activities outside the educational setting, such as more engaging receptions.”

That has led to companies giving more consideration to what products and services are available at different meeting spaces.

Many still consider the complete package when it comes to things like food and beverage, audio/visual and breaks, others like to see á la carte rates broken down to see how much each costs per day per attendee for negotiating.

Meeting sites, in turn, are being less rigid on the requirements for using services and “preferred vendors.”

Depending on privacy factors, a company may bring in their own audio/visual companies.

“Depending on the objective and the audience, you will get different things,” Michel said. “Right now, people are traveling and having meetings, which is good, so meeting spaces want to provide that consistent service and product.”

How To: Meeting

Top tips

Develop the goals, objectives and budget for the meeting, especially if there will be a theme.

Consider whether a traditional meeting site will be needed or if having a unique setting would be best.

Find out what activities the site offers outside the education setting to get employees engaged.